Industrial products continue to be made smaller, requiring ever more precise and efficient processes to be developed to replace larger, less highly engineered equipment and processes used in the past. Higher efficiency leads directly to lower operating costs, which are demanded by manufacturers and customers alike. Induction heating of industrial parts and products is subject to these demands and more advanced and efficient techniques for induction heating of metals are being created.
Old methods and apparatus for induction heating of small parts must be replaced with more precise and efficient equipment. A need has arisen for a new induction heating coil design for heating various materials in which a typical arrangement is heating a discrete object located behind a non-conductive, non-metallic barrier. An example of one item requiring precise induction heating is a barium getter behind a glass tube, such as the picture tube in a television. The induction heating of such devices requires precision heating to high temperatures while shielding nearby elements from the effects of high energy electromagnetic fields. Existing heating coils tend to emit wide and unfocused magnetic fields that heat elements not requiring heating, causing unwanted damage and production delays.